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Janich joins primary race in 2nd Congressional District

Tom Janich announced this week he is seeking Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District race against two-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, raising the total of GOP candidates in the primary battle to three.

Janich, who resides in the 6th Congressional District in the unincorporated Todd Creek area of Adams County, hopes to earn enough delegate support at the district assembly in April to secure a place on the primary ballot. He considered running in the 1st and 7th Congressional Districts, but felt that he had the best chance to win in the 2nd CD.

The newly reconfigured 2nd CD lost some suburbs north of Denver and portions of “ski country” counties along the I-70 corridor after redistricting was finalized last December. It now includes Larimer County and parts of Jefferson County.

Democrats maintained their advantage of active registered voters in the district by a two-point margin with 34 percent, while Republicans have 32 percent. The remaining 33 percent of voters are registered as unaffiliated.

Janich said he is familiar with his primary opponents, Boulder businessman Eric Weissmann and state Senator Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, but he has not spoken to them about the race. He owns a second home in Evergreen, which is located within the 2nd CD’s borders.

The candidate has run for House District 36 twice, the 7th CD once, and most recently, in 2010, House District 31. He did not win any of those elections, but Janich believes he has developed a better understanding of the how the delegate system works since his last run for office.

In elections past, Janich has come under fire for his criminal arrest record. Out of the eight charges on his record, Janich pled guilty to third degree assault in June of 1983 and was found guilty of driving under the influence in January of 1988. A third degree assault charge and a charge of resisting an officer from June of 1983 were both dismissed by the district attorney.

Janich believes that the attacks have helped him more than they hurt him.

“They made a huge issue out of a few misdemeanors from when I was 21-25,” Janich said. “Three traffic misdemeanors, one was an assault from after I was stopped. They tried to act like it happened yesterday.”

As for his competition in the Republican primary, Janich said that neither Weissmann nor Lundberg “have the guts” to significantly cut federal spending. He listed Medicaid, food stamps, supplemental security income, and unemployment benefits as specific welfare programs he would want to see eliminated.

In addition to overspending, Janich believes that the Federal Reserve is a major threat to the value of American currency and the security of the national economy. He said the first piece of legislation he would introduce if elected would be a bill to strip the Federal Reserve of its capacity to print money, and to reinstate that power to Congress.

“The Federal Reserve is the drug dealer for Congress,” Janich said. “Congress does what they do because the Fed can print all the money they want.”

On social issues, Janich is against same-sex civil unions and for the legalization and regulation of marijuana. He is pro-life, and spoke passionately about his stance against abortion, criticizing the Democratic members of the Congressional delegation for their stance on the issue.

“If all five of them, plus Obama, Pelosi, and Reed put as much effort into balancing the budget as they do into killing the unborn, we’d have a balanced budget,” Janich said.

Janich has not yet assembled a campaign staff, and said he doesn’t plan to hire any staffers unless he wins the nomination. But, he added, “I’ve been at this since ’97, I can do this stuff in my sleep.”